APEX PREDATORS

Hammerhead Shark

What is an apex predator?

“Apex” is a word that means top, or highest. A predator is a carnivore that kills and eats other animals. So, an apex predator is one that sits at the very top of the food chain, and at the center of its food web. It is able to kill and eat the largest prey animals in its environment with little fear of itself falling prey to another predator. Most apex predators are able to drive away or even kill “lesser” predators that share their habitats. For example, when a pair of wolves moves into an area where there are coyotes, the coyotes often leave rather than risk dangerous fights with the larger wolves.

In the ocean, sharks and orcas are both apex predators. On land, apex predators include the big cats, the larger canines including wolves, members of the ursine family such as grizzlies, large raptors such as eagles, and predatory reptiles such as pythons and anacondas.

However, even the mightiest predator is not without natural enemies. Apex predators can be injured or killed by other apex predators, or even by larger or stronger members of their own kind during fights over food or mates. In addition, apex predators that are old, sick, or just badly outnumbered can sometimes be killed by a group of determined smaller predators. For instance, packs of hyenas and wild dogs sometimes kill large cats that would easily beat them in a one-on-one battle.

Find Out What Eats What! Just Type The Name Of An Animal Or Something Else in The Box Below!

An OMNIVORE is an animal that mixes vegetation and other animals into its diet.

FOOD WEBS!

Food Webs Are Maps Of What Eats What, And Who Eats Whom! Below, You'll Find Links To Several Food Webs.

ALL FOOD ENERGY STARTS WITH THE SUN

A food web—every food web—begins with sunlight. Plants turn that sunlight into usable food energy, and that energy is transfered to the herbivorous animals that eat those plants. When those plant eating animals are themselves eaten by predators, the energy is transfered higher up the food chain and becomes concentrated in the bodies of the top, or apex, predators.
The apex predators return energy to the food web after they die and their bodies are consumed by scavengers, fungi and microbes.